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[Jay w]

i have tried to do an auto calibration, cant get the vapouriser hot enough, the auto calibration wont kick in until the unit hits 40 degrees, the best i can get is about 32 degrees, despite the temp guage reading 90 and the fans running.

That doesn't sound right, and if the vapouriser was stone cold maybe that explains why it's starving it of fuel. Are you sure there's coolant flow through it? With it having warmed up on petrol (vaopouriser is doing no work thus extracting no heat from coolant) I'd expect it to sit pretty much at coolant temperature.

Kevin

it would make sense what you are saying, if it doesn't get hot then it cant vaporise the gas.

The vaporiser does get hot, but not so hot it can't be touched, i have taken the feed from the bridge and routed it back to the HBV, the cabin is nice and warm still.

[Kevin Wood]

That's odd. If I'm right you've got it in series with the heater+hbv so if there was no coolant flow the heater wouldn't work :-/

How hot are the coolant pipes to the vaporiser geting? Should be too hot to hold I guess- like the top rad. pipe.

Could it be that the vapouriser is full of air and a little coolant tricking through the bottom? I've never seen one, so not sure if they have a coolant jacket around them or just a straight-through pipe. I'd suggest unbolting it and inverting it while the engine is running just to clear any air, but with the solid fuel line connected that's not so easy I guess.

Just thinking about a post you made after mounting the vapouriser that it altered the running temperature. Does make me wonder if circulation around that branch of the cooling system is not good. (temp. sensor is on the bridge so maybe related?)

I think you're tantalisingly close...


Kevin

[Jay w]

i will have to pop the hose off tomorrow, but yes once i had fitted the vaporise unit the temp did seem to drop a bit, however recently i have noticed it has been running hot, currently it gets to 90 degrees the fans kick in and then the temp goes back to 82 degrees, once the fans finish then the temp is off skyward again......

it's due for a flush tomorrow....

[Kevin Wood]

Does sound to me like there could be an airlock somewhere.

Might be worth running a garden hose through the vapouriser section of coolant plumbing just to make sure it's flowing freely. That might blast a bit of air out too.

Kevin

[JamesV6CDX]

All of the above posts make sense - the vaporisor should be too hot to touch. Might make me think about my coolant routing.

Just to play devils advocate though -

LPG cars I have had before (Range rover- mixer, Veccy SGI) have all fired up, and flicked straight over to LPG from stone cold  :-/

The ad for the kit we have, also states "Start on gas".

32deg isn't good enough for a running temp in the vaporisor, but I'd have considered it's enough to make it run OK (when it's calibrated).

Might be worth having a word with Jeremy?

Out of interest, did you determine if there was a need to drill your fuel nozzles?

One of the guys from Nots who did a DIY LPG SGI, found that his car wouldn't run well because the injectors needed to be wider.

It does sound as if it needs "calibrating" or setting up, and if the software won't let you do that below 60deg, then you won't be able to do it. Stick the temp sensor wires on the CTS to temporarily fool it?  

Other than that, it could be that there's not enough gas getting to the front - either a kink in the pipe (doubt, as you say it's a good job) - or the tank valve not letting enough gas out. There should definately be a manual shut off valve for gas, on the tank.

Hope you get it sorted mate.

[Jay w]

right have doen a coolant change, there is a high rate of flow through the vaporiser.

one thing i noticed the vaporiser never gets above 37degrees, but yet the LPG tep will go as high as 50 degrees, surely the vapouriser heats the LPG? if this is the case then surely the vapouriser temp will be higher than the LPG temp.

I have a feeling that the temp sensor is faulty, it is beggining to get me down.

I didn't drill out the nozzels, naively i presumed that the nozzels supplied would be right for the car, we had discussed the output of the engine before i bought the kit, at the least i would have though they would have advised that it needed doing.

i'm at the point of giving up, i have inversted so much time in this and still we are no closer to getting it completed, i have not spent any time on the business or with the family, they are getting narked and rightly so.......

it's either a gallon of petrol and a match or autotrader, i am that pi$$ed off with it

[Ken T]

Why not log into the Yahoo LPG forum, http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/lp-gas/ and post a few queries there ?. The famous Bernard chap, who is very helpfull is on there. He advised me a couple of times. I think drilling out the nozzles is only if there's not enough gas getting into the engine at high revs, the standard nozzles should work over most of the reve range. To my inexperienced eye, it sounds as if there is something basically wrong, eg the vapouriser not heating up enough, or not letting enough through, or the solenoids cutting off short, or something like that. The LPG forum should beable to provide some answers. Or, you have got nearly all the way there, how about finding a GOOD Lpg place to fix it and certify it at the same time.

Best of Luck

Ken

[Jay w]

I have logged on to the yahoo site I am awaiting approval.

the problem around here is finding someone who is good.....they are all cowboys and no one is able to certify in plymouth.

it is pointing more and more to a faulty temp sender on the vapouriser but how this would affect fuel pressure I will never know

[Ken T]

I'm kind of leaning toward the vapouriser not having the flow thro. From  http://www.go-lpg.co.uk/hints.html   "If your engine splutters or stops whilst on LPG in cold or damp conditions, open the bonnet as soon as possible and feel the vaporiser's body with your hand. As a general rule, if it isn't so hot that you cannot comfortably hold a hand on it for more than a few seconds, it is not getting hot enough to work properly." It will be a bit cooler than the pipe feeding in the water, because the action of evapourating the liquid will cool the water a bit, but ..........

Ken

[Jay w]

the vapouriser is getting very hot, too hot to touch for any length of time..

[Kevin Wood]

Don't suppose the LPG and vapouriser temperature sensors are wired wrongly (swapped over?)

Don't even know if this is possible - are they both on or near the vapouriser?

The poor running could then just be down to it not having calibrated.

Kevin

[Jay w]

the connectors are differen, one a square and the other round.....

We have had more limited sucsess tonight, but still not finished  

we have been unsure about the lambda wiring, brown with a blue tracer, however when you look at the wiring coming out of the ECU you will see at least 4 brown/blue, some of them are 12V the others are less than 1V....none of these are the lambda wiring it seems
Lambda wiring is shielded once it comes out of the ECU, we have now got the LPG kit reading the Lambdas correctly now, however i have the EML on with the following codes: 12, 37, 38, 98, 17

The engine still runs like a dog on LPG, on petrol it is fine and sweet (aside from the EML)

the Vaporiser temp is still at least 50 degrees less than the engine temp, i know that LPG will cause some temp loss, as will the airflow around the vapouriser, but 50 degrees!!!

[Jay w]

Spoke to the guys who supplied me the kit today......i must say they cannot do enough to help out.

The nozzels DO need drilling, however it is the nozzels on the injectors not the ones in the manifold, so this has saved me some work.
They need to be drilled to 2.5mm.

the heat issues is being referred to their technical support dept as they are a s bit miffed by this, but they have said that it doesn't sound right.

I have to wait until the weekend now as i am in Epsom and have no garage facilities to sort out the car.

The more pressing issue is the EML light, its still on and now she only averages 22MPG   , plymouth to london (205 miles) on a tank of fuel, this is killing me.

[Kevin Wood]

I don't know what those codes refer to but what immediately springs to mind is that maybe the connections to the Lambda sensors are disturbing their operation on petrol and it's running rich. Maybe worth removing them for now?

Otherwise, could be that it got the hump about something when it was running badly on LPG and the faults are not actually present on petrol.

Kevin

[VXL V6]

Engine Management Lamp or Emissions Lamp?
If Emissions lamp is it flashing or permanently lit?